Nick, I'm not suggesting there's anything necessarily wrong with the GUI; I just don't see it as intuitive. If I check a few things in each column, how does D7II decide which column I intend when it hits "Run Ninite Configuration" in Maintenance? I don't deal with servers so if D7II automatically determines what type of machine it is, those two columns are wasted for me. If there is a way to specify which of the four columns run, I'm not seeing it.

Xander wrote:Nick, I'm not suggesting there's anything necessarily wrong with the GUI; I just don't see it as intuitive. If I check a few things in each column, how does D7II decide which column I intend when it hits "Run Ninite Configuration" in Maintenance? I don't deal with servers so if D7II automatically determines what type of machine it is, those two columns are wasted for me. If there is a way to specify which of the four columns run, I'm not seeing it.

Let me tak a stab at this:

column 1 is for workstations - What do you want to install?column 2 is for workstations - what if anything do we upgrade? - ie: if it is on here, do we upgrade it (for eg. I will never upgrade utorrent, because later versions are crap.)

column 1 is for servers - What do you want to install?column 2 is for servers - what if anything do we upgrade?

I think that Nick has done alright setting this up its just that he has not articulated how it is meant to work.

for me, installing new machines, I ignore this tab setup and just have a website downloaded copy of a ninite_chrome_notepad++.exe run as a custom command.

this way I am sure it gets installed the way I want without any confusion as to whether ninite is running or no.

So, having never used this feature, let me muddy the waters with how I think it works based on looking at the screenshot.

I assume D7II determines if it's being run on Windows Server or Windows Workstation. So, that determination knocks out two of the four column choices. If you don't support any servers, then don't bother checking anything in those two columns. So, really on any given machine, you're left with two columns.

Column 1 means, "Install this software if it isn't here, update it if it is already here."Column 2 means, "Don't install this software if it isn't here, but update it if it is already here."

Both columns are "used" when you run Ninite. There could be some duplicate items checked in both columns, but I believe software will be updated if it's checked in the first column even if it isn't checked in the second column. Really, the second column would only be useful for something that you want to update if it exists, but never install if it's missing.

csc wrote:To answer your question more directly, the NiniteOne page should allow me to copy and paste the command line that it creates. It would be awesome if there was a button that said "turn this command line into a custom config".

Xander wrote:Nick, I'm not suggesting there's anything necessarily wrong with the GUI; I just don't see it as intuitive. If I check a few things in each column, how does D7II decide which column I intend when it hits "Run Ninite Configuration" in Maintenance? I don't deal with servers so if D7II automatically determines what type of machine it is, those two columns are wasted for me. If there is a way to specify which of the four columns run, I'm not seeing it.

pointed back to this by someone else who didn't understand what was going on there, I see it never got answered or wasn't clear, so I'll start at the top for the google fodder. Devin was spot on.

the screen being referenced by Xander is a configuration screen for Ninite One (paid) which includes command line parameters to automate. this interface is designed to perform the commands for you via a simple checkbox to enable/disable the switch, option, or app to install.

d7II mimics other Ninite launchers in that it organizes the Ninite features by both action (install/update) and platform (workstation/server) in separate lists to allow easy configuration of the different Ninite behaviors. the rest is really a matter of understanding Ninite's usage and command line parameters. The install column uses the Ninite behavior to install the app if missing, whereas the update column uses the Ninite behavior to update if the app is installed. The workstation/server columns allow you to choose a different config for these platforms, because it makes sense not to have desktop apps on servers!

to add the action to d7II's custom lists for manual or auto mode usage, add that to your auto mode profile (search the internal functions for "ninite" in d7II config) and arrange it however you wish.

to be clear, the only "decision" d7II needs to make when running is whether or not you are running on a workstation or server, so it knows which column you "intend" for it to run in. those new to d7II may not realize however it always differentiates between server and workstation OSes automatically and applies the appropriate actions as you've configured them for that platform. that is something that would benefit from better documentation in app and online, and we're definitely aiming to beef up that documentation in future versions!

for the suggestions of copying the command line d7II uses to run Ninite, I don't see that as being a useful app feature unless it generated the entire d7II custom app config file, which would be nice, but otherwise you can easily use process explorer to snatch the command line d7II used to launch Ninite with that configuration while it is running. You'll need to create two configs obviously with the different switches (one for workstation and one for server) and in each custom app config you can check the appropriate box to restrict it to that platform. custom app chaining may not work for you however due to the first app being skipped (the chained app may be skipped I think, will have to double check) so you would probably need to have both configs in your auto mode lists and checked. I just don't see the work involved as being beneficial since d7II does this already, automatically... and having to use two custom app configs instead of one in my lists would get annoying for me (I use the 2 line item style) unless someone can fill us in on what we're missing in the Ninite functionality that would require a custom app config... if anything new has been added since the d7II code freeze that is understandable but so far, but to date no one has mentioned it.